Trump Makes a Minor Joke About the Element of Surprise in War, and the Very Professional, Educated, and Smart Media Takes It All In Stride With Perfect Calm and Equanimity

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Just kidding, they're freaking out.

First, let's establish that Trump has a warm relationship with Japan's MJGA PM:

John Solomon: US Intelligence Recorded Foreign Powers Discussing Routing USAID Money to Joe Biden in 2024, But They Hid This From Trump

—Disinformation Expert Ace

He also faults Trump for not talking about this.

Now, he doesn't say that foreign power is Ukraine, but in a clip I posted yesterday, he talked about the Ukraine plotting to use US taxpayer money to interfere in the election on behalf of Joe Biden.

I don't know why he's omitting the "Ukraine" part now; maybe his source confirmed it, but only if he agreed to not name Ukraine.

The New Darling of the Grifter Left and Grifter Right, Joe Kent, Seems to Have Flounced From His Job Because He Knew He Was Under Investigation for Illegal Leaking

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Gee, I wonder which podcasters he may have been leaking to.

Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent is now at the center of a reported federal investigation, with multiple sources indicating the FBI is probing whether he leaked classified information--an inquiry that, notably, appears to have been underway before his abrupt resignation earlier this week.

According to Semafor's Shelby Talcott, who cited four sources familiar with the matter, the investigation predates Kent's departure from his post and focuses on whether sensitive intelligence was disclosed to individuals not authorized to receive it. Talcott initially reported that three sources confirmed the probe, later adding a fourth.

...

Kent announced his resignation publicly on X, framing his exit as a break over foreign policy. In a lengthy post, he argued he could no longer support what he described as an unnecessary conflict with Iran. "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran," Kent wrote. "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."

...

President Trump weighed in as well, offering a blunt assessment of Kent's departure and his stance on Iran. "I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security," Trump said. "But when I read his statement I realized, it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat, every country realized what a threat Iran was. The question was whether or not they wanted to do something."

The timeline now raises obvious questions. Kent's resignation was publicly tied to his disagreement over Iran policy--but the existence of a preexisting FBI investigation suggests there may have been far more unfolding behind the scenes than he wanted to admit.

Dana Loesch @DLoesch

18h

Huh.
Seems like the guy was trying to get ahead of a damning story he brought on himself by leaking whatever he could get his hands on to the press, no matter how it affected our nation. Now his reported (and apparently fairly recent) conversion to the right, exclusion from intel briefings due to suspicion, and recent posts contradicting everything he's saying now have clarity.

If you anticipate being tried in court, it's useful to announce your solidarity with a small but passionate group of political lunatics. They'll do jury nullification on your behalf.

There were 4 easily debunked lies in just this one 2 minute exchange in the interview…. pic.twitter.com/lVGNPZc2TD

— AG (@AGHamilton29) March 19, 2026

🚨 Tucker Carlson disgustingly defends 1930s British fascist Oswald Mosley - who was so aligned with the Nazis that he married at Joseph Goebbels’ house in Berlin, with Adolf Hitler as a guest - even calling him “patriotic.”

Carlson claimed Mosley’s “only crime was being the… pic.twitter.com/clb4wcKWPz

— Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) March 19, 2026

I saw this same wicked shit when Andrew Breitbart died - opportunists claiming to know what Andrew would've done or said or told them "in private," etc. It's the perfect "but you can't disprove it" bullshit move con artists always use. https://t.co/R55JsrKR38

— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) March 19, 2026

Mary Katharine Ham @mkhammer

19h

You'd be amazed at how often the secret and conveniently unwitnessed wishes and words of the deceased, expressed to tangential, ambitious characters reflect perfectly what those tangential, ambitious characters wanted to do and say anyway. Crazy, that.

The Russian Empire Restorationist, Alistair Crowley Satanist, and New Rasputin is a fan of Tuq'r and Kent:

What an endorsement.

Know the op when you see it. pic.twitter.com/7tMS7fxmC4

— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) March 19, 2026

Granny Groyper agrees -- even if it is true that Joe Kent was passing classified information, we must not prosecute him, because it would "rip the GOP apart."

Megyn Kelly @megynkelly

You wanna rip the GOP apart right to its core and prevent a single America First voter from participating in the midterms? Indict Joe Kent and Tucker Carlson. See how that works out.

And how would she know this? She has never been "MAGA," by her own admission. The furthest she will lie is to say she is "MAGA-adjacent."

By the way, here's where Cavernous Nostrils is now: Posting photo collages suggesting Erika Kirk killed her husband.

Close it up

Poll: 84% of Republicans Agree With Trump on Iran, 6% Agree with Me-Again Kelly and Tuq'r Qarlson

—Disinformation Expert Ace

OSZ @OpenSourceZone

Among Republicans do you agree with Trump or Carlson and Kelly on foreign policy views

🔴 Trump: 84%
🟡 Carlson/Kelly: 6%

J.L. Partners poll | 3/17-18 | 1,018 LV

Official Twitter Account of Republic of Somaliland: We Have Proof That Ilhan "Omar's" Real Last Name is "Elmi," Changed to Hide the Fact That Her Father is a Genocidal Warlord

—Disinformation Expert Ace

And to defraud the US immigration system, of course.

I have to correct something I have repeatedly gotten wrong: I have long called Ilhan "Omar" by the name Ilhan "Omar" Nur, to stress that "Omar" is not her real name. She falsified her name to fraudulently emigrate on an Omar family visa.

I kept saying her real last name is "Nur." That's wrong. Nur is her father's first name, not his surname.

Her actual real last name is "Elmi." Apparently her father, Nur Elmi, began using the name "Omar" to hide his identity.

REPUBLIC OF SOMALILAND
@RepOfSomaliland

🧾 Receipts: Ilhan Omar's original last name was Elmi before it was changed.
This evidence was available, but the Obama Justice Department refused to investigate.

Her brother, Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, and their father, Nur Said Elmi (also known as Nur Omar), used multiple names across different countries. Part of the family fled to the United Kingdom, while Ilhan Omar and others entered the United States under their father's assumed name, "Omar."

These name changes and split identities were used to conceal the father's true war crimes and identity.

Marriage details:

* Groom: Ahmed Nur Said Elmi
* Bride: Ilhan Abdullahi Omar
(real name Ilhan Elmi)

Extradition? @TheJusticeDept
@DHSgov
@WhiteHouse

The EU and Japan Hint They Might Do Something to Protect Shipping in the Strait of America

—Disinformation Expert Ace

I don't believe them. This is very gauzy and gaseous.

Trump should just declare that only ships transiting to the Western Hemisphere will be protected. All other ships? Iran, do your worse.

Jacqui Heinrich @JacquiHeinrich

NEW: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, & Japan issue joint statement expressing "readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts" to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, welcoming nations engaging in prep/planning & coordinating SPR releases and ways to increase output.

Calls for Iran to "cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817"

"Appropriate efforts" means "we issued this paper statement."

The statement commits to nothing:

We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces.

We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict. We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817.

Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The effects of Iran's actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable.

Consistent with UNSC Resolution 2817, we emphasise that such interference with international shipping and the disruption of global energy supply chains constitute a threat to international peace and security. In this regard, we call for an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations.

We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning.

That's the extent of their commitment: they express their readiness to "appropriate efforts" and welcome the commitment of other nations to "preparatory planning."

The Morning Rant

—CBD

Does the current conflict in Iran represent an inflection point in the strategy of war?

Israel has honed its skills at decapitating the various Islamic terrorist organizations that have besieged it since its founding, using a combination of electronic (and other) intelligence gathering, sending clandestine services into the hearts of those organizations, carefully cultivating spies within and without those terrorist groups, and probably most of all, being nimble and able to respond very quickly to actionable information.

But the vast improvement in missile technology, coupled with the revolution in drones that allows surveillance in real time and almost instantaneous attacks, has shifted the paradigm. No longer are the leaders mostly safe from attack. And that has been used to great effect in Iran, with the top tier of leaders mostly killed, their replacements mostly killed, and even their replacements killed, or so far down the organizational command structure that their decisions are not yet considered important.

That brings unbelievable uncertainty to the conduct of the war, and while any competent armed force has contingency plans for loss of leadership, those plans are by definition locked into a strategy that has become useless.

No plan survives first contact with the enemy

In addition to its military's lack of coordination, its justly feared internal security apparatus is able to detain or kill street protesters, but has lost central command, so there is very little intelligence being gathered on the growing rebellion.

It is a recipe for disaster on all fronts, and regardless of whether the Mullahs can retain control, or the army or IRGC stages a coup, the days of Iran being a regional power and exporting its brand of Shia Islam terror across the world are over.

And all of this was accomplished with superb human and technical intelligence, real-time military action on that intelligence, and amazingly accurate munitions that simply did not exist a generation ago.

Imagine the beginning of World War II, If Great Britain had been able to kill Hitler and Göring and Himmler and Goebbels and Bormann and Keitel and Raeder and Donitz and von Ribbentrop and a few dozen others at the top of the Nazi hierarchy. Or far more chilling...imagine if in May 1940 Nazi Germany had killed Churchill and Bevin and Portal and Montgomery and Dowding and Slim.

The counter-argument from the increasingly unhinged supporters of Iran is that martyrdom is a victory. Well, then in a few weeks when the entire hierarchy of the Iranian Mullahcracy is dead, we should declare victory for Iran! Then the people of Iran can reconstitute some semblance of a government, and we can leave, with the admonition: "Don't make us come back!"

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter]. If you folks who are on X/Twitter would follow us it would be much appreciated!

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

Fraternal Love
William Adolphe Bouguereau

The Morning Report — 3/19/26

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. So yesterday a 7-ton meteor almost slammed into Cleveland, and today we have this. . .

On Wednesday night, the Washington Post reported that "U.S. officials detected unidentified drones above the Washington Army base where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth live" and that those officials have not yet determined where they came from. . . One of the sources, who the newspaper says is a "senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity" said that the military is currently monitoring threats more closely due to the "heightened alert level as the United States and Israel strike Iran." 

. . . Back in the fall, several news outlet reported that both men had moved to military bases, along with Donald Trump's Homeland Security advisor, Stephen Miller. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also had to move to a military base. According to the Atlantic, other members of the administrative have as well. 

Well we are at war with Iran, which, it cannot be stressed enough, has been at war with us for 47 years but the difference is we finally have a President who understands the threat to our national security and the peace of the world that an Islamic Iran poses.

And with the usual fifth columnist backstabbers questioning the war and demanding to know what the President's "Exit Strategy" is, the exit strategy should be, and I thought was, Total Victory with the complete defanging of the Mullahs if not their utter collapse and the ascension of a government that is minimally a peaceful nation state that will no longer foment terrorism in the name of annihilating the USA and advancing Islam across the region and the globe.

With that, the President's repudiation of the State of Israel over its attack on an Iranian oil field makes no sense at all in light of all the players involved.

“Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran,” Trump said. “A relatively small section of the whole has been hit. The United States knew nothing about this particular attack and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen.” “Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility,” Trump added. “NO MORE ATTACK WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar – In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.”

. . . The South Pars gas field is the world’s largest natural gas reserve and is jointly operated by Iran and Qatar.

Considering we have military bases in Qatar and they are putatively an ally, as well as the effect on world markets the crippling of this field would have, this might have something to do with Trump's response to Israel's attack. But that said, either we are in this to win it or what the hell are we doing in the first place?

While we're on the subject of existential threats to the United States of America:

Democrats’ DHS funding blockade, framed as civil liberties, instead weakens core security agencies during wartime—exposing Americans while advancing an increasingly radical agenda. . . Financed in part by malign foreign powers who seek to defeat the United States, radical left activists have co-opted the Democrat Party. Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, head of the supposedly centrist New Democrat Coalition, typifies the illogic. “My concern about DHS is their absolute disregard of the Constitution and American citizens’ civil rights,” he said, adding, “So until we see officers who abuse citizens’ civil rights held to full account, until we restore full congressional oversight, I’m not giving another penny to ICE and CBP.” . . . By providing the energy, funding, and activists who increasingly guide the Democrat Party, the Marxist wing has become its base, electing avowed Socialists including Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Zohran Mamdani, Rashida Tlaib, and more than 100 other officials. A Fox News survey released last week found record 38% support for socialism, including 66% of very liberal voters. Many Democrats are defunding Homeland Security because of the current Middle East war, not despite it. In their heavily refracted perspective, Iran is a peaceful nation that, as Sen. Mark Warner, top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, claims, poses no threat to America. To the Marxist wing and growing numbers of other Democrats, Iran balances the “genocidal” or “apartheid” regime in Israel. . .

. . . Auric Goldfinger told James Bond that he didn’t want a dialogue; he wanted Bond to die. Likewise, the Marxist wing isn’t seeking compromise. It seeks to bring down American exceptionalism by replacing American history with the 1619 Project, action civics, and critical race theory. My center-left friends steadfastly want it to be true that radical leftists share common values with other Americans. They don’t.

Have a great Day!

And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY LINKS
• This is a developing story. I'm writing just after midnight (EDT) on Wednesday night, so hopefully, we'll know more on Thursday.              
  Unidentified Drones Fly Over Army Base Where Rubio and Hegseth Live
  
• The Duke lacrosse hoax showed how accusation can outpace evidence—and how media, politics, and grievance can turn fiction into “truth” with lasting damage.
  The Ultimate Race Hoax

Daily Tech News 19 March 2026

—Pixy Misa

• A bipartisan gaggle of US senators is looking at blowing up DMCA Section 230, the law that makes modern social networks - and to a certain degree, blogs and forums - possible. (The Verge)
  
  Section 230 shields website operators from lawsuit over the behaviour of commenters. But it also serves as a shield for website operators that deliberately inculcate certain behaviours in their users - or that censor users to block behaviour they find undesirable.
  
  It's a people problem, basically. There is not single technical or legislative answer to this mess.

Wednesday Night ONT - March 18, 2026 [TRex]

—Open Blogger

Good evening Horde. The time has come for very random mid-week shenanigans of the post-cafe overnight variety. Did I mention the shenanigans were random? They are indeed random.

Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT which means another edition of overnight fun and games. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Good will offerings of amusing puns are happily accepted. Pants are optional. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors. Leave Tucker, Megyn, Candace and anyone similar to threads elsewhere. Your reward is an open bar with as much virtual alcohol as JQ can serve.

[Top photo credit: B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore, MD]

***

ONT Wholesome Content

This is Bethan's Rock. Who is Bethan and why does Bethan have a Rock? Glad you asked.

Bethan's Rock is on display at Poole Museum which is a maritime museum, art gallery and cultural center located in Poole, Dorset in the southwest of England. A main focus is a preserved 13th-century shipwreck known as the Mortar Wreck which is presented alongside various artifacts the vessel was carrying when it sank. The museum also features a 2,000-year-old Poole Logboat which is an Iron Age vessel found in 1964 during dredging work in Poole Harbor.

Per Atlas Obscura:

In the summer of 2019, a young girl by the name of Bethan was visiting Poole Museum with her mom. While exploring all the site had to offer, she and her mother began to discuss what museums do and why. Inspired by her visit, Bethan felt eager to support the museum's collection. She decided to donate her most precious treasure, something that she felt was appropriately significant and valuable: her favorite rock. Curators placed Bethan's Rock in a glass cabinet, just like many of the museum's other valuable artifacts, where visitors are now able to appreciate the piece as much as Bethan once did.

The rock donated by five year old Bethan became a social media phenomenon in 2021 after showing up on a Reddit post. If you're ever in Poole, stop by and have a look. Admission to the museum is free (but I doubt they're taking more rock donations).

***

***

Random music trivia:

Look at this gent playing keyboards in the video for "Video Killed the Radio Star" in 1981. It was the first music video aired on MTV. The band's name is The Buggles.

Oddly, he was not a member of the band, did not play on the actual studio recording of the song, and reportedly did not write the song or contribute musically to the track's composition or production.

At the time of the video, the band itself only had two members - Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn (a third, Bruce Wooley, was involved when the song was written but was not with the band at the time of the video). Horn handled vocals, bass and guitar and Downes played keyboards. But the guy playing keyboards in the frame above wasn't Geoff. It was a cameo by a keyboard player that Horn knew and worked with in London in the late 1970s.

Who was the guy? Hans Zimmer. You might have heard of him. He went on to compose soundtracks to many movies, including like The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean, Crimson Tide, Gladiator, Batman, the Dark Knight, Inception, The Last Samurai, No Time to Die, Dune, Rush (the racing movie, not the Canadian trio), Top Gun:Maverick and more. What's your favorite Zimmer score?

***

My apologies if this has appeared on the ONT previously but I can't recall. If this is a repeat, pretend to forget and enjoy anew. Apparently the US National Institute for Standards and Technology sells standard material samples on its website. You can shop online for...

Forty grams of domestic sludge costs $758.

Three jars of standard peanut butter costs $1246.

Five vials of Organic Contaminants in Smokers' Urine (Frozen) costs $1854. (For the record, frozen organic contaminants in non-smokers is the same price.)

Four 70 gram jars of baby food composite costs $1246.

So many questions...

***

Intentionally crashing locomotives used to be an attraction in the late 1800s. Must have made an almighty sound. Amazingly, someone put together a three part series with the full history. Lots of old photos and maps.

***

In case you missed it among all the St. Patrick's Day festivities, March 17 also marks the date of the launch of Vanguard 1 in 1958. It was the first satellite with solar panel and remains the oldest artificial object still in orbit around the Earth. Communications were lost in 1964. To give you a sense of size, Nikita Khrushchev nicknamed it the "grapefruit" satellite. Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and Explorer 1 were launched before but none are still in orbit.

***

Goldfish drives custom-built car a record distance in one minute

A Netherlands engineer built a car for his pet goldfish, Blub, who drove the vehicle a distance of 40 feet in one minute to break a world record.

Thomas de Wolf constructed a four-wheeled vehicle with a water tank for a driver's seat. The vehicle is steered by analyzing the movements of the goldfish inside the tank.

Reminds me of one of my favorite pieces of fine literature.

***

The ONT is not a music thread and it is not a movie thread. But what if we combine them? Wednesday cinema preview released today that will be of interest to Iron Maiden fans:

***

ONT Legal Docket

The home of rapper Afroman was raided by Adams County deputies in 2022 when they served a search warrant looking for drugs. They found no drugs and brought no charges. They took $4000 in cash and eventually returned $3600 (there is a dispute about the amount involved). They also damaged the home and refused to pay for the repairs.

Afroman was not amused and put out a song and video titled "Lemon Pound Cake."

The video was ostensibly to earn money to pay for the damage. It took issue with the officers involved and used his own security footage. Video footage showed police ramming down his door, searching his wardrobe, opening CD cases, and at one point briefly glancing at a lemon pound cake on his counter. Thus the name of the song...

Seven officers sued him over the video on defamation grounds. Afroman attended depositions and trial adorned in an American flag outfit.

This afternoon the jury returned a verdict in favor of Afroman on all counts.

The unfortunate loser in all of this? The Adams County police department in Colorado received a deluge of unhappy emails and social media messages in support of Afroman. The problem is that the whole thing took place in Adams County, Ohio.

The Adams County Sheriff's Office has received a flood of social media comments, DMs, and phone calls about the #Afroman defamation trial. It’s clear this is important to a lot of people. There's just one small issue: that's the ACSO in Ohio. We are the ACSO in #Colorado.… pic.twitter.com/MJWtu96YbR

— Adams County Sheriff's Office (Colorado) (@AdamsCoSheriff) March 18, 2026

***

The Pittsburgh police scanner keeps giving. Thank you people of Pittsburgh!

***

Live AC DC for the big ONT finish:

***

Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking ?? Thank you for your attention to this matter. We aim to whelm.

Close it up

Straight-Up Dog Propaganda Cafe

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Shelter dogs looking for a home

In a world of Other Two Dogs, be First Dog.

Dog has a friend over.

The Infiltrator. If this is real, it's a good way to get kicked to death. Animals get spooky when they're confronted with the uncanny valley.

Dogs are innately protectors. Even "coolers," like in Roadhouse.

They also protect the oceans from pollution.

And dogs are naturally romantic.

They can be a little dramatic sometimes, if I'm being honest.

"The most photographed dog in the world" hangs out of his Venice window, posing for tourists.

Quick Hits

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Remember the days when two Republicans led the jungle primary for California governor, meaning, if that survey support translates to actual votes, the only two people competing in the election would be those two Republicans? No Democrats allowed? No "Independent Socialists" running as spoilers?

Well those days are back because the most recent poll shows the two Republicans leading.

Again, this isn't a primary poll -- it's a poll of the so-called "jungle primary" where everyone runs no matter what the party. The top two vote-getters here advance to the general election.

Conservative commentator Steve Hilton had the support of 17% of likely voters and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco had the backing of 16%, according to a poll released Wednesday by UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times.

Last time I checked, the Democrat with the most support is noted Chinese Spy Eric Fartwell. I think he had 13%.

Poland has now completely healed from the economic and cultural retardation of Invader Communism and is now wealthier than most European countries.

-- A generation ago, Poland rationed sugar and flour while its citizens were paid one-tenth what West Germans earned. Today its economy has edged past Switzerland to become the world's 20th largest with over $1 trillion in annual output.

It's a historic leap from the post-communist ruins of 1989-90 to today's European growth champion that economists say has lessons on how to bring prosperity to ordinary people -- and that the Trump administration says should be recognized by Poland's presence at a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies later this year.

...

The guest invitation to the G20 summit is mostly symbolic; no guest country has been promoted to full member since the original G20 met at the finance minister level in 1999, and that would take a consensus decision of all the members. Moreover, the original countries were chosen not just by GDP rank, but by their "systemic significance" in the global economy.

But the gesture reflects a statistical truth: In 35 years -- a little less than one person's working lifetime -- Poland's per capita gross domestic product rose to $55,340 in 2025, or 85% of the EU average. That's up from $6,730 in 1990, or 38% of the EU average and now roughly equal to Japan's $52,039, according to International Monetary Fund figures measured in today's dollars and adjusted for Poland's lower cost of living.

Poland's economy has grown an average 3.8% a year since joining the EU in 2004, easily beating the European average of 1.8%.

As someone pointed out on Twitter: They somehow managed to prosper economically without allowing in millions of unvetted, unskilled immigrants. Weird, I thought that was impossible.

Poland is saving money by not having to demolish the statues of its previous heroes just because Hostile Culturally-Aggressive Colonizers demand it.

Meanwhile, in Wales:

Another billionaire has fled California to escape the coming tax on all assets, including unsold stock and property. (Usually we tax things when a dollar value is "realized" -- made real -- through a sale; this new scheme to seize the means of production would require you to estimate what your assets might be worth and pay a tax on them every year. That shouldn't lead to people going to jail; just ask Trump, who got hit with a half-billion dollar civil penalty for over-estimating the value of his assets in a private loan context.)

Billionaire Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick admits strategically moving to Texas before California wealth tax Kalanick says Dec 18 move to Austin was timed 'prior to January' deadline for proposed billionaire tax

Billionaire and Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick officially joined the exodus from California, revealing he moved to Austin, Texas, just weeks before a proposed wealth tax could have targeted his estimated $3.6 billion fortune.

"Just to be clear, on December 18, I moved to Texas. I don't know what's so specific about December 18, but let's just say it's prior to January," Kalanick said in an interview with TPBN.

"I get a little bit [of] FOMO on like, these people going to Florida. I'm like, dude! Why so much Florida action?" he continued. "Come on, homies."

Kalanick left his San Francisco home for Texas just 14 days before the new year, when the retroactive residency deadline for the proposed billionaire tax would take effect.

While it has not yet qualified for the November ballot, the proposal -- backed by the Service Employees International Union--United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) -- would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California residents with more than $1 billion in wealth. The tax would be due in 2027, and taxpayers could spread payments over five years, with additional fees, according to the California Legislative Analyst's Office.

If the measure is approved by voters, anyone who was a California resident on Jan. 1, 2026, would owe the tax, according to the proposal. Based on Forbes' estimates, Kalanick could owe roughly $180 million.

And now you get nothing. Eat it, Commie scum.

You people are such absolute fuck-ups. You'd have to ration sand in a desert.

Meanwhile, Nurse Kathy Hochul is begging the wealthy to move back to NY so that they may seize their assets:

Based Jessica @RealJessica

3h

New York Gov Kathy Hochul is begging wealthy people who have moved to Florida and Texas to come back to New York and pay taxes. 🤣

"I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our state. Now, there are some patriotic millionaires who stepped up. OK, cut me the checks if you want to be supportive, but maybe the first step should be go down to Palm Beach and see who you can bring back home."

"I have to look at the fact that we are in competition with other states who have less of a tax burden on their corporations and their individuals. And I would say remote work changed everything."

"There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan and work in New York state. And they were captives to our state, they were going to stay. We saw that that's not the case. Wall Street businesses looking at Texas, they're not going there because they have a nicer governor. They're going there because of the tax rate."

California Bridge to Nowhere Remains Unfinished, Now Costs $114 Million

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Every time I see a dead critter by the highway I wonder: Why can't we build gently-sloping pedestrian bridges, topped with grass and bushes, for wildlife to cross over safely? It's not just good for them; people crash their cars due to deer all the time.

Well, a government filled with left-wing fuck-up grifters is why.

In 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom broke ground on the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing (WAWC), a project featuring an overpass for animals atop ten lanes of the 101 Freeway in Southern California.

At the ceremony, Newsom boasted that the state had committed $54 million. He promised to "complete the job within another $10 million," before seeming to hedge on whether that final sum would do the trick.

Officials projected a 2025 completion date for the overpass, and estimated that the entire project -- which includes the bridge and other ancillary developments -- would cost $92 million, some of it coming from private philanthropists.

...

Pratt, a cougar-sweater-wearing environmental activist who serves on WAWC's Partner Leadership Team, is the program's public face. She is also a regional executive director of the national Wildlife Federation. In 2021, the group received a $25 million grant from "Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation" for the bridge that bears the late philanthropist's name.

That money apparently was not enough. This past January, donning a hard hat and a "#SAVELACOUGARS" jersey, Pratt announced a possible $21 million overage. She effectively blamed President Trump, attributing the multimillion-dollar overrun to "tariffs, inflation, [and] labor problems."

"There's no boondoggle," she said. "Given the times we're living in," a potential $21 million overage is "not that bad."

Over $100 million for a bridge which only needs to bear the weight of, checks notes, skunks and the occasional herd of deer. Oh, and six inches of dirt, maybe.

This is not an overpass for vehicles. It does not need to bear the weight of multiton trucks driving at 75mph. The engineering needed here is pretty forgiving.

But still, they can't finish it for less than $114 million.

And if you think that will be the final bill, I've got a Butterfly Bridge to sell you.

(Yes, the bridge must also serve as a path for butterflies. Think of the additional engineering requirements to bear the weight of several dozen butterflies.)

How can you degenerates literally be bad at everything?

Here's how: They're all taking a piece.

...

Why has a project primarily consisting of a bridge for animals cost over $100 million? One reason is that Newsom and WAWC's philanthropic supporters apparently don't mind it becoming a patronage program.As the WAWC-endorsing Wildlife Crossing Fund notes, citing the California Department of Transportation's estimate, "for every $1 billion spent" on wildlife crossings, "13,000 jobs are created."

A group of experts apparently adds to the operation's expense. A fungi whiz, Pratt says, worked as a WAWC habitat designer, periodically scrutinizing root samples under a microscope. A contracted soil scientist said his process involves assessing local dirt to "rebuild it ... as close to nature as possible."

1, that's a scam, 2, you build a slope, a bridge, put some dirt on it, and it's done. It's close enough to nature. We just want animals crossing here, not attempting to build animal cities.

By the way: I think any path covered in dirt would be "closer to nature" than the highway it spans, no?

...

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Newsom envisioned WAWC as a catalyst for the construction of wildlife crossings across the state. California, he boasted, set aside $105 million "to replicate projects like this all up and down the state." Pratt reportedly thinks "hundreds more crossings are needed."

Here's the thing: their own incompetence and greed keeps them from accomplishing any of the things they claim to want to accomplish. If they'd built this... bike path with dirt for something reasonable like $15 million, then yeah, this would serve as a model for building additional bridges.

But at a cost of $114 million and climbing for one incomplete bridge? No. You have once again fucked everything up for everyone, including the animals.

But you'll all still get paid, right? That's the important thing.

Shock! Left-Wing "Civil Rights" Icon and Democrat Hero Cesar Chavez Was a Child Molester and Rapist

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Of course. Of course.

The evidence was staring us in the face:

He died 33 years ago -- in 1993 -- so the Pravda Media is now dusting off the archives and reporting what they knew decades ago but suppressed until it was safe to do so.

John Sexton, who quotes the Soviet Archivist NYT:

As predicted yesterday, the story about Cesar Chavez sexually abusing young girls was published today by the NY Times. The paper spoke to multiple women including one who claims she was abused repeatedly when Chavez was 45 and she was 13-years-old.

Ana Murguia remembers the day the man she had regarded as a hero called her house and summoned her to see him. She walked along a dirt trail, entered the rundown building, passed his secretary and stepped into his office.

He locked the door, as he always did when he called her, and told her how lonely he had been. He brought her onto the yoga mat that he often used in his office for meditation, kissed her and pulled her pants down. "Don't tell anyone," he told her afterward. "They'd get jealous."

The man, Cesar Chavez, one of the most revered figures in the Latino civil rights movement, was 45. She was 13. Ms. Murguia said she was summoned for sexual encounters with him dozens of times over the next four years.

Recently, more than 50 years later, Ms. Murguia learned that a street near her home in the Central California city of Bakersfield was in the process of being renamed. City officials want to name it in honor of her abuser.

A second woman described similar abuse which began when she was 12-years-old.

Ms. Rojas said she was 12 when Mr. Chavez first touched her inappropriately, groping her breasts in the same office where he'd meet with Ms. Murguia. When Ms. Rojas was 15, he arranged to have her stay at a motel during a weekslong march through California, she said, and had sexual intercourse with her -- rape, under state law, because she was not old enough to consent.

And he didn't just sexually abuse and rape children, he also abused his adult female staffers and partners. See the link for that.

Sexton notes that "allegations and rumors" about this sex predator have swirled for years, but gosh darn it, the story just wasn't ready until 33 years after he died without any apologies or reckoning.

Just the News: US Intelligence Officials Hid Evidence That China Interfered in the 2020 Presidential Election on Biden's Behalf

—Disinformation Expert Ace

They hid this evidence from the Commander in Chief and President, Donald John Trump.

Are we at treason yet?

Jerry Dunleavy:

US Intel hid Chinese 2020 election meddling from Trump because they opposed his policies, memo says

Dr. Barry A. Zulauf, a member of the Senior National Intelligence Service reported that others in the intelligence community said "I don't want my intelligence going to the White House where it will be used by that vulgarian in the Oval Office to support policies against China with which I personally disagree."

Analysts inside the U.S. intelligence community sought to conceal evidence of Chinese influence efforts from President Donald Trump during the 2020 election, with analysts saying they didn't want their intel used by "that vulgarian in the Oval Office" to pursue policies toward China they personally disagreed with.

The revelation is found within a January 2021 report written by -- and never before reported upon comments by -- analytic ombudsman Barry Zulauf, who conducted a review of the spy community's handling of Russian versus Chinese meddling efforts during the 2020 election. Among his conclusions was that intelligence analysts downplayed China's actions because they had disdain for the "vulgarian" Trump and did not want to support the policies and priorities of the Trump administration toward China with which they "personally disagree."

Just the News reported this week that the U.S. intelligence community has known since early 2020 that Beijing also gained access to American voter registration data and used that information to conduct opinion analysis related to the presidential election between Trump and then-former Vice President Joe Biden.

This is not the only piece of evidence pointing to Chinese government election influence efforts in the 2020 election. Although much about China's activities in 2020 remains classified, Just the News conducted a thorough review of publicly-available intelligence assessments, federal indictments, foreign government warnings, and cybersecurity firm analyses.

There is credible evidence that Chinese government-linked cyber hackers and Chinese social media troll farms took aim at the U.S. presidential election in 2020 and sought to undercut Trump during his run against now-former President Biden. There are also indicators that Chinese intelligence and law enforcement agencies -- China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) and its Ministry of Public Security (MPS) -- also played a role in 2020.

He found that actions taken by Russia would be claimed by analysts to be election interference, while the exact same actions taken by China would be ruled as no interference at all -- all depending on the political narratives favored by highly partisan "intelligence analysts."

He doesn't say that last part, but it's implicit.

Zulauf -- a longtime intelligence officer -- wrote in his January 2021 report: "Given analytic differences in the way Russia and China analysts examined their targets, China analysts appeared hesitant to assess Chinese actions as undue influence or interference. These analysts appeared reluctant to have their analysis on China brought forward because they tended to disagree with the Administration's policies, saying in effect, I don't want our intelligence used to support those policies."

U.S. intel analysts downplayed China assessments to avoid helping Trump

...

"Dr. Zulauf went on to point out the various errors in this way of thinking -- intelligence belongs to the community, not a single analyst, and further, while analysts are entitled to like or dislike particular leaders, they are not entitled to allow that to alter the intelligence products that they put forward," the journal article said.

The review by Zulauf also found that allegations of Russian meddling and Chinese meddling were being measured based on differing standards, meaning Russia may have taken actions that were determined to be influence or interference efforts while, if and when China took the same or similar actions, those Chinese actions likely would not have been determined to be influence or interference efforts.

"Due to varying collection and insight into hostile state actors' leadership intentions and domestic election influence campaigns, the definitional use of the terms 'influence' and 'interference' and associated confidence levels are applied differently by the China and Russia analytic communities," Zulauf wrote in his report.

The ombudsman found that "the terms were applied inconsistently across the analytic community" and that "failing to explain properly these definitions is inconsistent with Tradecraft Standards."

Oh, and out treasonous Deep State also hid information that Ukraine was using US taxpayer dollars to rig the election in Biden's favor.

Uh-Oh: The Highly Influential Tuq'r Qarlson and Nick Fuentes Have Succeeded in Turning MAGA Against Trump
Not, as My Eighth Grade Self Would Add

—Disinformation Expert Ace

Is this a high approval rating? Because it seems like a high approval rating to me.

Iranian Intelligence Chief Who Plotted Trump's Assassination Confirmed Dead Due to Airstrike and Overdose of Amyl Nitrite and Disco Dancing but Mostly the Airstrike

—Disinformation Expert Ace

The homophobes Trump and Netanyahu are murdering one Brown Homosexual after another.

Grok @grok

Yes, verified. Israel's Defense Minister announced that Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib was killed in an overnight airstrike in Tehran. Iranian President Pezeshkian has since confirmed the death, calling it a "cowardly assassination." This is the third senior Iranian official killed in 48 hours per multiple reports (AP, BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters).

So close to Pride Month? SO CLOSE TO PRIDE MONTH?!?!

By the way I don't know this guy was gay. I just assume that everyone in the Iranian leadership is (was) a closet case.

Let's see what Iran's current (for the nonce) President says:

Masoud Pezeshkian @drpezeshkian

2h

Translated from Persian

The cowardly assassination of my dear colleagues Ismail Khatib, Ali Larijani, and Aziz Nasirzadeh, alongside some of their family members and accompanying team, has left us in deep mourning.

I extend my condolences to the great people of Iran for the martyrdom of two cabinet members, the secretary of the Shura, and the military and Basij commanders. I am certain their path will continue more steadfastly than before.

Sounds tough!

But then... there are reports he is desperate to resign because he doesn't want to be the next to be killed:

Wall Street Mav @WallStreetMav

19h

There are reports that Iran's President Pezeshkian tried to submit his resignation to the Supreme Leader today, but Mojtaba Khamenei is not available (he is likely dead).

Nobody is in charge of Iran.

The top 200 mullahs and IRGC leaders are dead.

SMOD linked this report. I have no idea how credible it is:

The Iran Watcher 🇮🇷 @TheIranWatcher

🚨 Iran's presidency has collapsed as its own president pleads not to be assassinated.

Masoud Pezeshkian is telling foreign counterparts he has no authority, no access to leadership, and no control over the system, effectively disavowing responsibility as the regime fractures from within.

According to Persian Gulf sources, he informed officials across the region, as well as Russia and Turkey, that the constitutional leadership structure has broken down and he is completely cut off from it, stressing there is no justification for targeting him.

Pezeshkian is trying to save his own life as the regime crumbles, a clear sign the Islamic Republic is losing control.

Yesterday a commenter reported that Iranian civilians were passing intel to Israel via Starlink, telling them where Basij troops were on the streets, so that they could be targeted for airstrikes.

This Jerusalem Post story has more:

Iranian civilians sent Israel intel to strike Basij checkpoints in Tehran - WSJ

The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranians on the ground have been transmitting information in Persian through Israeli social media accounts.

Israel has been relying in part on target information sent by ordinary Iranians for strikes carried out during the current war with Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The report said this was the case on Wednesday night, when an Israeli Hermes UAV struck Basij checkpoints in Tehran, citing a senior Israeli security official.

The official said Iranians on the ground have been transmitting information in Persian through Israeli social media accounts. According to the report, the information is first verified and vetted by Israeli authorities, and action is taken only after it is found to be accurate.

Iranian state media reported on Wednesday evening that Israeli drones targeted checkpoints in Tehran, killing several members of Iran's security forces, including some affiliated with the Basij militia. Separate reports said several regime security personnel and Basij members were killed in the strikes.
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If confirmed, the reported use of civilian-supplied intelligence would point to an additional layer in Israel's targeting apparatus inside Iran.

Thanks to Michael the Texan for that link.

Meanwhile, beckster sends this report:

Thought this was interesting, from Amit Segal's daily Substack Noon In Israel:

---------------------------
Meanwhile, Israel is calling mid- and low-level commanders, threatening them and their families if they don't stand aside in the event of an uprising.

One conversation is worth recounting.

"Can you hear me?" a Mossad agent can be heard, speaking in Farsi. "We know everything about you. You are on our blacklist, and we have all the information about you."

"OK," the commander said in the recording.

"I called to warn you in advance that you should stand with your people's side," the Mossad agent said. "And if you will not do that, your destiny will be as your leader. Do you hear me?"

"Brother, I swear on the Quran, I'm not your enemy," the commander said. "I'm a dead man already. Just please come help us."

Lefty Influencer, TikTok Revolutionary, and AOC-Style "Palestinian-American" Kat Aboogabooga Suffers Humiliating Loss in Illinois Democrat Congressional Primary

—Disinformation Expert Ace

You may not have heard of Kat Aboogabooga, aka "Kat Abughazaleh." She is one of the new breed of post-AOC Pro-Invasionary Democrat Socialist, the type that no longer hides her desire for authoritarian Soviet communism or simple hatred of America, Christians, and white people, but announces it straight up and then pauses for applause with a gum-smacking grin.

If you are unfamiliar with her work, see the beginning of this Black Conservative Perspective where she pops off with one Grinning Idiot communist take after another.

She ran to be the Democrat nominee for an Illinois congressional seat. She #MeToo'd her opponent, who had been a professor who had once dated a student.

She... lost. 29% to 26%. (It was a multicandidate field.)

Progressive influencer Kat Abughazaleh's bid for election to Congress failed Tuesday after Democratic primary voters opted for Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss.

Biss' victory came only hours after his campaign confirmed the mayor had a relationship with a former student while working as a professor at the University of Chicago in 2004.

Abughazaleh, who formerly worked for left-wing organization Media Matters in conducting opposition research against conservative outlets, was one of 15 Democrats jockeying to succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) in the Land of Lincoln's 9th District, which covers parts of Chicago and its northwestern suburbs.

The 26-year-old also known as Kat Abu achieved minor online infamy for a series of stunts -- including getting herself arrested and charged with conspiracy to impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles during a September 2025 demonstration in Broadview, Ill.

She received about 26% of the vote compared to Biss' 30% support when the Associated Press called the race just after 10:35 p.m. ET.

Now, the guy who beat her isn't really a pedophile or anything. The student he dated was only, he says, "5 or 6 years younger" than he was and they didn't date until after she was out of his class. And he claims the affair was short-lived and only involved kissing.

But still, when a radical communist loses to a guy smeared as a #MeToo Child Molester, well, maybe AOC-style Socialism of Stupidity isn't the winning way after all.

Oh, she's a flake, too. She blew off a campaign event and blamed... narcolepsy.

Mary Katharine Ham @mkhammer

I hardly know anything about this race (except Kat used narcolepsy in a hilariously overwrought Gen-Z statement as an excuse for skipping an event), but I'm glad Bliss won if only so it sends this signal that this kind of fake MeToo-ing doesn't work and is then disincentivized.

Oh, and this terrorist bitch just got indicted by the feds for assaulting ICE officers so the gum-smacking grinning idiot may be going to prison, too.

While she and her antifa pals blocked an ICE vehicle from moving and pounded on the hood and windows, she allegedly scratched the word "PIG" into the SUV's paint.

Wednesday Morning Rant

—Joe Mannix

One of the hallmarks earmarks of entitled, aristocratic rule is the great and powerful exemption. The rulers impose - as the name implies - rules, but the rules do not apply to the rulers themselves. Rules are for the subjects, not the rulers. The rulers get the authority to make and enforce rules, and - thanks to their royal prerogatives, Party privileges or whatever nomenclature is popular in the style of the time - get to ignore them.

The notion of "rule of apply" does not exist to Party Men or other aristocrats. They live by exemption, as is fitting their stations. They used to at least pretend that this is not how it worked, but the mask is slipping off. While in the old days, they would pass laws and then ignore them without consequence, that is old-fashioned. The new way is to formally exempt themselves, like it was in the good old days when kings reigned and peasants served. The only thing that can stop them is a modicum of shame from within their own clique.